The Taiwan High Court has ordered the Jhudong branch of the Taiwan National University Hospital and a male patient to jointly pay a former female patient’s family NT$400,000 in compensation after the man had sex with the woman, who has mental problems, while hospitalized.
The 26-year-old woman has been diagnosed with a mental disorder, a symptom of which is that she obsessively seeks to have sex, her mother said.
The mother filed a formal complaint and sought damages from the hospital and the male patient surnamed Chen (陳) after finding out that her daughter had sex with the man while in hospital.
The court has determined that the hospital in Hsinchu County’s Jhudong Township (竹東) was negligent in its duties and failed to monitor the patient and prevent them having sex.
The mother said her daughter started to exhibit symptoms in the second year of junior-high school and has been undergoing treatment since 2011.
Her cognitive ability and control over her sexual autonomy are diminished due to her psychosis, the mother said.
She sent her daughter to numerous hospitals, but her condition persisted, the mother said, adding that a nurse at one hospital said that the daughter “appeared to think her sexual behavior was normal and also had delusions that men she approached wanted to marry her.”
The mother first learned about her daughter’s sexual relations with Chen — with whom she allegedly had sex three times — when she overheard him talking about their “relationship” on the telephone, she said.
When she discussed the issue with her daughter, she said Chen wanted to marry her and that she liked Chen, the mother said.
Investigators determined that there was no way to prove that the sex was not consensual, and therefore could not file criminal charges against Chen, the mother said.
However, a civil lawsuit was filed.
During the investigation, Chen argued that the sex was consensual and that he was under the impression that the woman was in full control of her sexual autonomy.
Hospital nurses told investigators that they had repeatedly told the woman that sexual conduct was inappropriate on hospital premises, and that they had on occasion put her in a separate room to isolate and restrain her.
The judge ruled that Chen should have been aware of the woman’s condition when he saw that she had been restrained and that the hospital had a responsibility to protect her while she was under its care.
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